Pääotsikko RUSSIAN LILAC CULTIVARS TO FLOURISH IN FINLAND? Anna Nukari, Marja Rantanen and Elena Lyakh. Natural Resources Institute Finland

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1 RUSSIAN LILAC CULTIVARS TO FLOURISH IN FINLAND? Pääotsikko Anna Nukari, Marja Rantanen and Elena Lyakh

2 Introduction Common lilac (Syringa vulgaris L.) one of the most essential landscape plants throughout the whole cool and temperate region also in Finland a very popular and traditional ornamental mostly single-flowering the official flower of Helsinki since

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4 Introduction Russian winter hardy cultivars potential to increase diversity of lilacs and even still upgrade the status of common lilac in Finnish horticulture beautiful panicles in diverse colors double-flowering forms large flowers

5 Introduction Project "Syringa vulgaris genetic resources of Academy of Finland at MTT Agrifood Research Finland (subsequently Luke) and University of Helsinki Dr. Elena Lyakh in Finland in Micropropagation of Finnish and Russian common lilacs DNA-fingerprinting of common lilacs Project Syreenimaja - Lilac Arbour financed by Nikolai and Ljudmila Borisoff Foundation On-going at Luke Testing Russian common lilac cultivars for suitability for Finnish climate

6 Materials and methods The cultivars studied are 'Altaiskaya Rozovaya' 'Daphna' 'Fioletoviy Ghigant 'Indiya 'Krasavitsa Moskvy' 'Krasnaya Moskva 'Kruzhevnitsa' 'Nadezhda' 'Ogni Donbassa 'Pamyat o S.M. Kirove One Finnish origin of common lilac, cultivar Liisa was included to some of the Central Finland plantations as a local well adapted control (Photo: Saara Tuohimetsä)

7 Materials and methods In this on-going project the winter hardiness and survival of Russian lilac cultivars in the Finnish maritime climate is studied The freezing tolerance of the cultivars was tested Small scale plantations were made using plants derived from micropropagated material at several locations in Finland representing old heritage gardens Jyväskylä and Laukaa Central Finland 62 N, 25 E Helsinki Southern Finland 60 N, 25 E

8 Materials and methods Jyväskylä Aallonpuisto, park named by architect Alvar Aalto at University of Jyväskylä Gummerus, publisher company Keskisuomalainen, media company Schauman castle (built as factory leader appartment in 1924) Laukaa Järvilinna, art center Helsinki Viikki manor park at University of Helsinki

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11 Results The preliminary results have shown that the Russian lilacs have potential to grow in Finland At least cultivar Daphna has suffered from winter injuries The freeze testing results indicate parallel that the beautifully flowering Daphna might anyway not be the best lilac option for example for the Finnish nursery production In the Finnish climate the growth may terminate temporally, but continues after a while. Therefore, unripen shoots are susceptible to winter injuries

12 Results The flowering lilac cultivars have shown survival for at least over a few winters at their growth locations at Helsinki since 2013 at Laukaa since 2014/2015 at Jyväskylä since

13 Results 'Fioletoviy Ghigant flowering at Luke Laukaa on (on the left) and 'Pamyat o S.M. Kirove (below) in

14 Results Monitoring leafhopper Iguttetix oculatus was included to the aims of this project There were leafhopper symptoms on the studied lilacs both in Southern and Central Finland in 2016 and 2017 The symptoms (small spots on the leaves on the right side of the picture below) were however not severe

15 Discussion The lilac plants in the plantings are still young and have not been flowering broadly before this spring do not form statistic repetitions These Russian cultivars would bring lots of variation to the Finnish lilac assortment

16 Discussion There has been special interest for the light colored 'Krasavitsa Moskvy, that was known in Finland by lilac enthusiasts already before this project Most of the cultivars are however totally new for Finland and promising at this point

17 Conclusions Lilacs that grow well at the Central Siberian Botanical Garden at Novosibirsk were introduced to Finland Both some winter injuries and on the other hand beautiful flowering have been observed regarding different cultivars Based on these results, cultivar Daphna can not be recommended for use in Finland The start of growing and timing of the flowering varied quite much from year to year The plantings will continue growing at their locations in public and private gardens around Central Finland and at the University of Helsinki, as far as the plants survive alive Long-term observation can continue in later years

18 Acknowledgements We wish to express our gratitude for financial support to the Academy of Finland Nikolai and Ljudmila Borisoff Foundation for kindly planting the lilacs in historical gardens around Central Finland to Esko Alm

19 Thank you! Thank you!

20 20 Teppo Tutkija